St. Louis Blues (6-6-3) at Chicago Blackhawks (6-8-4)
7:00pm Central
United Center
TV/Radio: NBCSN/WGN
PROJECTED STARTERS
Chicago – Corey Crawford (3-6-0 W/L, SV%: 0.901 GAA: 3.07)
St. Louis – Chad Johnson (2-3-0 W/L, SV%: 0.927 GAA: 2.08)
TEAM STATISTICS
Power Play
Chicago (12.5%, 30th)
St. Louis (27.6, 5th)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (74.1%, 27th)
St. Louis (82.4%, T-10th)
Shorts for/against
Chicago (33.2, 7th, 33.4, 25th)
St. Louis (30.3, 22nd, 31.8, T-17th)
Shooting %
Chicago (8.5%, 27th)
St. Louis (11.4%, 3rd)
Faceoff %
Chicago (50.1%, T-16th)
St. Louis (51.7%, T-7th)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
St. Louis 6’2” 204lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS
Chicago Blackhawks
Nick Schmaltz–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–David Kampf–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–John Hayden
Chris Kunitz–Luke Johnson–Andreas Martinsen
Duncan Keith–Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson–Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning–Gustav Forsling
St. Louis
Jaden Schwartz–Ryan O’Reilly–Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri–Tyler Bozak–Alex Steen
Zachary Sanford–Robert Thomas–David Perron
Pat Maroon–Ivan Barbashev–Oskar Sundqvist
Carl Gunnarsson–Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn–Jordan Schmaltz
Joel Edmundson–Jay Bouwmeester
Analysis
The fourth meeting between the Hawks and Blues, with Chicago leading the series 2-1-0, showcases two struggling teams. The Hawks look to end an eight-game losing streak, meanwhile, the Blues enter having lost Sunday vs. the Wild 3-2.
Looking at the positives, Henri Jokiharju (9 points) and Dominik Kahun (8 points) both stand in the top 10 in rookie scoring. Jokiharju also comes in second among rookies with 21:41 of ice time per game; however, he has recently been taken off the top unit.
Gustav Forsling, expected to make his season debut tonight, returns from a wrist injury sustained in the preseason. The 22-year old defenseman adds another piece to the dissatisfactory defensive puzzle, after spending five games in Rockford on a rehab stint, tallying 2 assists.
Jeremy Colliton started the morning skate today working on the power play—which is currently 30th in the league at 12.5%—as it has become something of a head scratcher for a few different coaches.
Comment below in our live game thread tonight!
And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game tomorrow morning on the-rink.com.